The Discovery Center News will be posted quarterly on the web site highlighting our updates, interesting community stories, reviews of historical society events, a schedule of upcoming exhibits and presentations, and volunteer opportunities.
By : Cozette Vergari The mission of the Westchester/Playa Historical Society is to gather, study and preserve the history of the communities of Westchester, Playa del Rey and Playa Vista. It is a nonprofit public benefit corporation organized exclusively for public and charitable purposes. The home of the Westchester/Playa Historical Society is at its Discovery Center,…
The Westchester/Playa Historical Society’s Discovery Center, located in the Westchester Triangle at 6207 W. 87th St., recently honored its community veterans with an exhibit that was open to the public on Sunday, May 28th during Memorial Day Weekend, as well as Sunday, July 2 and Sunday, July 9, book-ending the 4th of July holiday. On display at the…
By Cozette Vergari Westchester is home to many interesting locations with historical significance. There’s Hangar One, LAX’s oldest building, built in 1929 when it was still Mines Field. Then there are the area’s historic theaters, which are now offices–the Paradise Building and Loyola. But did you know that hidden right on the eastern edge of…
March 2022 The Westchester/Playa Historical Society invites you to a night of great dining, in support of its mission “To Gather, Study and Preserve The History Of Our Local Communities.” We will dine together at the local historical site of Tony Ps in Marina del Rey, from March 26 through March 30, when Tony P’s…
By : Cozette Vergari January 2022 The Westchester/Playa Historical Society is proud to celebrate the past, present and future partnership between the arts and the history of our flourishing community of neighborhoods. As we step into the New Year, let’s remind ourselves of what is right at our fingertips. At the corner of Manchester and…
By : Cozette Vergari December 2022 The Westchester/Playa Historical Society successfully provided five Holiday Candle Making workshops, completing the final workshop on November 19th, resurrecting a seventy-year-old community tradition, which started in the 1950s and drew busloads of “tourists” to see the holiday wonderland of giant candles. Spectrum News was on site for the final…
By : Cozette Vergari November 2022 It’s all about candles and community! The Westchester/Playa Historical Society has been providing Holiday Candle Making workshops, starting in September. The final workshop is November 19th. WPHS Board Member and community leader, Grant Francis, has been conducting the workshops, receiving rave reviews from the participants. Those participating have had…
By : Cozette Vergari September 2022 Hurry time travelers, we are boarding our time travel machine for a ride back to the 1960s, where more and more expansion and transformation of the Westchester Playa del Rey communities is happening. There are two extensive projects happening that will immensely change the complexion of our small sleepy…
By : Cozette Vergari All aboard! For those time-travel machine passengers, we are once again jumping back on board our time-travel-machine. We continue our adventures into the past, and, as a reminder, we board each time from amidst today’s Westchester/Playa geographic footprint. Though standing still, our time machine has magically taken us from 65,000 B.C.…
By : Cozette Vergari June 2022 The Westchester/Playa Historical Society will honor veterans in its upcoming exhibit, Commemorating Our Hometown Veterans, commencing Sunday, May 29th and running through Sunday, June 26th . The exhibit is being showcased at the Westchester/Playa Historical Society Discovery Center, located at 6207 W. 87th Street in Westchester, and is generously…
By : Cozette Vergari April 2022 For our regular passengers in our time-travel machine, which has taken us all the way back to 65,000 B.C. and forward from there up to the 1930s in our last travels exploring our Westchester/Playa geographic footprint, we are jumping back on board. Our time-travel machine is stopping in 1942,…
May 2022 By : Cozette Vergari The Westchester/Playa Historical Society Discovery Center, located in the Westchester Triangle at 6207 W. 87th St., will launch its next exhibit in honor of our local veterans. “Commemorating Veterans” will open on Sunday, May 29th , and run through Sunday, June 26th. The exhibit is open to the public…
By : Cozette Vergari Santa Monica, CA (February 22, 2022): The William H. Hannon Foundation has announced a grant to the Westchester/Playa Historical Society (WPHS). With this grant, the Foundation becomes a member of the Founder’s Circle for the WPHS Discovery Center, located in the Westchester Triangle part of Westchester’s downtown central business district. The…
By : Cozette Vergari March 2022 Jumping back on board our time-travel-machine, we continue our adventures into the past, and, as a reminder, we board each time from amidst today’s Westchester/Playa geographic footprint. Though standing still, our time machine has magically taken us from 65,000 B.C. forward. Our last adventure took us forward from 1912 and…
By : Cozette Vergari For those of you who have joined my time travel machine journey prior to the holiday season, we are again jumping on board to travel through time. Standing in the midst of today’s Westchester/Playa community, our travels initially took us all the way back to 65,000 B.C. We last explored the…
WESTCHESTER/PLAYA HISTORICAL SOCIETY DISCOVERY CENTER By : Cozette Vergari The Westchester/Playa Historical Society is proud to announce the opening of its first themed exhibition, AVIATION, at the WPHS Discovery Center, located at 6207 W. 87th Street in Westchester. The exhibit will be open to the public January 9th through March 6th every Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 1…
By : Cozette Vergari For those of you who have joined my time travel machine journey the last couple of months, we are again jumping on board. Standing in the midst of today’s Westchester/Playa community, our travels initially took us back all the way back to 65,000 B.C.. As we traveled forward, we witnessed evidence…
The new Westchester/Playa Historical Society Discovery Center is scheduled to open to the public August 1st of this year. Notwithstanding the challenges that Covid-19 has rendered, after an exciting year of strategic planning and implementation, the Westchester/Playa Historical Society Board of Directors has been working diligently to bring its dream of a public location for visitors…
By Robert Sawyer : ARCHITECTURAL BUSINESS MAGAZINE THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR ARCHITECTS Digging fervently for a new building foundation, Yovanni Hernandez struck something hard. Working quickly to remove all obstacles in his path for an expected concrete pour the next day, he used a pickaxe and shovel. Dust and dirt flying, he made his way around the…
By Cozette Vergari : This year is the 100th Anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting the states and federal government from denying citizens the right to vote based on gender. Yet the struggle for women’s suffrage began nearly a century earlier, when women began to speak out about…
By Cozette Vergari : Born in 1905 in Texas, Howard Robard Hughes Jr., now famously remembered as Howard Hughes, brought both aviation and film making to Westchester. Hughes was a business mogul, record-setting pilot, film maker and one of the most financially successful individuals in the world during his lifetime. Very early on, Hughes demonstrated…
By Cozette Vergari : Born in 1913, a native Angelino, William H. Hannon dedicated his life to giving back to his community. His father, a rancher, and his mother, a homemaker, instilled in him a love of the history of the region. Upon graduation from Loyola High School in 1933, William had his heart set…
ARTICLE: WESTCHESTER/PLAYA HISTORICAL SOCIETY DISCOVERY CENTER TO OPEN IN AUGUST By Cozette Vergari : The new Westchester/Playa Historical Society Discovery Center is scheduled to open to the public August 1st of this year. Notwithstanding the challenges that Covid-19 has rendered, after an exciting year of strategic planning and implementation, the Westchester/Playa Historical Society Board of…
WESTCHESTER/PLAYA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PIONEER SERIES HOWARD DROLLINGER By Cozette Vergari : We have already written about the courageous visionary, Ella Drollinger, taking the risk in 1944 of building the first commercial property in Westchester, an area that was beginning to evolve and take shape out of the wheat fields surrounding the small Los Angeles Air…
By Cozette Vergari : The new Westchester/Playa Historical Society Discovery Center opened to the public August 1st of this year, celebrated by the LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce at the August 24th Ribbon Cutting. In attendance, to offer their congratulations, were City Controller Ron Galperin, City Attorney Mike Feurer and Airport Commissioner Val Velasco. The city…
By Cozette Vergari : Some of you may share my long time dream of being able to travel in a time machine, which could propel me backwards in time, while standing at the same location throughout the ride, to observe what was happening at that exact spot 100 years ago, 1000 years ago and on…
By Cozette Vergari : For those of you, who last month joined my time-machine travel back to 65,000 B.C., we are continuing the journey this month. Standing in the midst of today’s Westchester/Playa community, our last travels took us back to the evidence of human settlement on the islands off the coast of Southern California…
6207 W 87th St - Westchester, CA 90045 